Friday, December 14, 2007

David is working like crazy this week. His art wares are flying of his Etsy shelf as fast or faster than he can make and list them. Some of them only stay on for an hour. It's the Christmas rush and there isn't much time to order from Etsy in order to have gifts ship before Christmas. Here he is working on a cross-cut pen which shows exceptional wood grain. The only problem is they tend to explode on the lathe. Keep your fingers crossed:O

Thursday, December 13, 2007

David was invited to an indie craft venue. Local bands played music, local indie craft artists set up booths and two showings of indie craft documentaries about, what else? The indie craft movement!

David was momentarily famous when one of the other artists immediately recognized his work from his online store Craftiness. It was uber cool! Dave was very excited at being recognized for his work by a total stranger. It's starting to happen in other places also. We had a lot of fun and hope to do something like that again.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Friday, November 23, 2007

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Here is my WIP, I only have one now that the sweater is finished (Take that Marley:) This is my first scarf and I am using a stitch from Vogue Knitting Book I borrowed from Gauge Knits (Thanks!). The needles my husband made of Birch and Diamond Wood, I love them!!!

I finally finished the sweater for my DD. I started it last year when I first learned to knit and I used acrylic homespun yarn, darn it. It was difficult to knit up, yarn splits and if I knit too tight, I had real problems. I had to finish it soon before the cold weather hits here in Texas or else she will never wear it. I finished the sleeves by crochet using Lion Brand Thick N Quick so I could finish it in time. She loves it and that's all that matters! I made the buttons out of polymer clay:)

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Gauge store in north Austin re-opened, yea!!! Good luck Karli, we love your store and are ecstatic to have a yarn store in our neck of the woods. I want to learn how to make socks and lace knitting (hint hint).

Saturday, October 27, 2007

2. When the knitter shows you a Shetland shawl she knit from handspun yarn that took 264 hours of her life to produce and will be an heirloom that her great-great grandchildren will be wrapped in on the days of their birth, say, "I saw one just like this at Wal-Mart!"

3. On every journey you take with your knitter, make a point of driving by yarn shops but make sure you don't have time to stop. (This works especially well if there is a sale on.)

4. Shrink something.

5. Tell her that you don't know why she knits socks, that it seems silly when they are only $10 for five pairs and they're just as good.

6. Tell the knitter that you are sorry, but you really can't feel a difference between cashmere and acrylic.

7. Tell her that you aren't the sort of person who could learn to knit, since you can't "just sit there for hours."

8. Quietly take one out of every set of four double-pointed needles that she has and put them down the side of the couch. (You can't convince me that you aren't doing this already.)

9. If you are a child, grown faster than your knitter can knit. Requesting intricate sweaters and then refusing to wear them is also highly effective.

10. Try to ban knitting during TV time, because the clicking of the needles annoys you.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

David is always creating with his lathe. For those of you not in the woodworking know, a lathe spins a piece of wood or similar material very fast so the artist may carve/chisel a design. His latest is a shawl pin for a knitted or crocheted shawl. It helps keep the item in place while looking goooood! It's like jewelry for knit-ware:)

What happens when you have a doll head from Terra Toys and an imaginative pre-teen? You get a collaborative effort between mommy and princess! Lucy was born this year out of the imagination of a middle-schooler. Princess helped stuff the body and she created the clothes. She also made the puppy in this pic out of polymer clay. There is no limit for this young artist in training.

In martial arts, what do you do with all those broken boards? If you are married to my husband, you get a pen! Dave had an interesting idea to make a pen out of the board I broke with a palm strike. Pine with a funky design:)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Our wonderful wee one has caught the indie crafting bug and made these stitch markers. She even learned how to upload them to our craftiness.etsy site. She just may catch the entrepeneurial spirit as well!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Dave has been busy. For someone who doesn't knit, he sure makes beautiful needles. These he made of Red Mahogany, Canary, Wenge, Cocobolo wood. The shafts are Birch and he spends a long time sanding them with 5 different sandpapers for an ultra smooth finish before sealing them. They feel so good on the finger tips, it sure beats aluminum.

Here is a fountain pen made of one of the more exotic woods. It's irridescent when you turn the pen slightly. It's really beautiful! Everything David makes is beautiful!

These knitting needles are wonderful. David makes the shafts usually out of Birch and uses a more unusual wood for the finials. They feel so great and soft in the hands. I much prefer the handmade knitting needles than the alumunum ones. You can't make them in small sizes however. The small diameter shafts don't hold up well to the rigours of knitting.

This bud vase is only about 6 inches tall and made of Cocobolo. It's one of the more exotic woods and shines up nice and purty.

Dave has a pen still on the mandrel that he just finished. He takes such care to cut and glue the wood in order to make such a great checkerboard pattern. He has much more patience than I do.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

This is a Bocote exotic wood slimline pen with a medical cadusa. This is one of many pen variations Dave comes up with. He is always inventing new variations with pen-types and wood. He keeps quite busy:)

Craftina is our new label. Dave and I are excited to give birth to this new endeavor. It's has been a project we can work on together but separately. He has his own studio and I have mine (mine is air-conditioned:) He makes the knitting needles, nostepinnes, pens (his passion), key chains and bud vases. I make the stitch markers and am apparently VP of marketing and packaging. We will see.......